Business intelligence deals with the consolidation and analysis of data collected in a day-to-day operation of a business. This analysis may be used as a basis for making more informed business decisions and create a competitive advantage for an entity that utilizes such analysis. Business intelligence involves data flows that may span different execution engines, contain complex functionality like data/text analytics and machine learning operations, and are often optimized against various objectives. Creating correct analytic data flows in such an environment is a challenging task and is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. Optimizing these flows may be an ad-hoc process where the result is largely dependent on the abilities and experience of the flow designer.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.